Man with brain tumour is forced back to work
CUT IN BENEFITS LEAVES HIM WITH JUST £32 A WEEK TO LIVE ON
A MAN living with an inoperable brain tumour says he has been forced to return to work after being left with just £32 a week to live on because his benefits were cut.
Karl Riley, 32, says his life has been ‘living hell’ since his Employment Support Allowance [ESA] and housing benefit were slashed after he moved back in with his fiancée.
Karl, a band manager, says he is struggling to keep a roof over their heads and has resorted to setting up a crowdfunding page.
Karl, from Bolton, was diagnosed with a benign tumour on his brain in 2012 but carried on working fulltime for five years before his condition started to deteriorate. While touring with one of his bands across Europe last year, Karl began showing severe neurological symptoms as the tumour grew to four times its original size.
Doctors found a blockage on his brain, which required emergency surgery. Following the surgery, Karl completed extensive rounds of radiotherapy.
He now faces a daily battle with amnesia, depression, anxiety, facial paralysis and mobility problems and has been on a waiting list for physiotherapy since February.
He was forced to drastically cut his working hours to almost nothing and he and his fiancée Samantha were forced to move back to their parents’ homes, which is when Karl made his first benefit claim.
He was granted £125 a week in ESA, which provides financial support to those living with a disability, and £54 a week in Personal Independence Payment, which replaced Disability Living Allowance.
In March, Karl and Samantha found the cheapest rented property they could, at £425 a month.
He declared the move as a ‘change of circumstances’ to the Department of Work and Pensions.
Officials then asked for a copy of Samantha’s payslips to look at their combined income. One contained a higher amount than Samantha’s usual earnings due to back-payment from an administrative error.
Karl claims the DWP took this as their average income, meaning his ESA was stopped and he was instead put on working tax credits, which did not have a disability element. He says his housing benefit of £85 a week has also been stopped, meaning he has to pay full rent and gets no reduction in council tax.
Karl says he will have to go back to work to make ends meet.
“It’s a living hell,” he said. “It is just constant form-filling. One of my main symptoms is amnesia, so I really struggle and they won’t allow my partner to deal with it because it is my case.
“If it wasn’t for the Go Fund Me page, I would have had to use a food bank. But now the money from the page has started to run out.
“I understand some people are homeless and I still have a roof over my head but my symptoms are exhausting, to say the least.”
He says he and Samantha have been left with £32 a week to live on between them after they have paid for rent, bills and the shared car which they rely on due to his lack of mobility.
A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: “We’re committed to ensuring that people with health conditions get the support they’re entitled to.
“Decisions for ESA are made following consideration of all the information provided by the claimant, including supporting evidence from their GP or medical specialist.
“Anyone who is unhappy with a decision can appeal. People with long-term health conditions may also be eligible for support through other benefits such as PIP.”